1. nation. Article 355 of the Indian Constitution enjoins

1.
The Ministry of
Home Affairs (MHA) is the primary agency charged with Internal Security of the
nation. Article 355 of the Indian Constitution enjoins the Union to protect
every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure
that the Government of every State is carried on in accordance with the
provisions of the Constitution. In pursuance of these obligations, the Ministry
of Home Affairs continuously monitors the internal security situation, issues
appropriate advisories, shares intelligence inputs, extends manpower and
financial support, guidance and expertise to the State Governments for
maintenance of security, peace and harmony without encroaching upon the
constitutional rights of the States. Every individual State also maintains
individual security infrastructure with associated developmental projects to
address these issues which hamper the internal security of the State.

Elements of MHA’s Security Apparatus

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2.
There are a total
of six divisions within MHA who deal with the issue of internal security in
addition to the three divisions of Police. These are appended in the succeeding
paragraphs1.

(a)
Three divisions of
Internal Security covering a wide range of matters relating to internal
security and law and order. Matters of policy and operational issues on
Terrorism, monitoring of anti-national and subversive activities of groups,
financing of terror, arms and explosives, national integration, communal
harmony are a few of those handled by these divisions.

(b)
Jammu and Kashmir
Division handles the matters with respect to terrorism in that state. It is
also responsible for the implementation of the Prime Minister’s package for the
state.

(c)
LWE Division
monitors the complete LWE situation and counter-measures being taken by the
affected states. It also review the proper implementation of the various
developmental projects in the LWE affected areas.

(d)
North East Division
deals with the situation of insurgency in the North Eastern states, including
matters relating to talks with carious extremist groups operating in that
region.

(e)
The second Police
Division out of the existing three Police divisions looks after the matters
related to Central Armed Police Forces including their deployment.

3.
In order to deal
with the various levels of threats to the security of the state, the agencies
are deployed according the level. In case of heightened state of law and order,
the inherent security agencies within the state are adequate to keep the
situation under control. The security forces deployed are State Police, Armed
Police of the State, State Police Organisation and the Home Guards. If the
threat level is low and if it is felt that it is beyond the control of the
state government, agencies of Central Armed Police Force are called in to
tackle the situation. If the level rises to significant, in addition to CAPF,
the army is tasked to deal with situations wherein the Rashtriya Rifles being
specific to Jammu and Kashmir and Assam Rifles for North East. In case of high
level of threat the army is called in for extended areas of operations or the
National Security Guard for small area or specific sensitive locations. The
Indian Army is employed to deal with cases of severe threat and exerts pressure
to bring the situation to the negotiation table. Jurisdiction of the individual
state has more value to the operations conducted, however the centre provided
support as and when projected by the state as well as when the situation
demands.

4.
Legal Framework. In addition to the
infrastructure impetus on the security apparatus, the relevant authorities has
also implemented national and state level ordinances, which are revived as and
when required. The starting point of an effective anti-terror legal frame work
in India is the National Security Act of 1980. It empowers the central and
state government to detain for defence and security of India. Prevention of
Terrorism Act (POTA) of 2002 stipulates special courts and protection to cater
for terrorism. The terms of detention are defined in this act. While POTA was
repealed in December 2004, the significant clauses of the act were
simultaneously inserted in its successor. The Unlawful Activities Prevention
Act of 1967 and later amended in 2004 was enacted to provide a more effective
prevention of certain unlawful activities. The concept of terrorist act as well
as terrorist organisation is defined in this act. The main objective of this
act was to amend the extreme provisions of POTA which were eclipsing the basic
rights of the people. Another strong law in this aspect was the Armed Forces
(Special Powers Act) of 1958, which confer special powers to the members of the
Armed Forces in disturbed areas. Under this act, the detention power of the
armed forces increases and they have legal immunity for their actions. It was
meant to ensure maintenance of law and order in disturbed areas which are
defined by the government without any chance of judicial review. While this act
is focused only on terrorism, the broad powers enables the conduct of Counter
Terrorism operations.

5.
Armed Response Mechanism. The armed
response by the concerned state is carried out in a fashion associated globally
with ‘Emergency Legislation’2. The state governments
employs a variety of surge mechanism for augmenting the regular police forces.

In Jammu and Kashmir, Special Police Officers supplement the regular police
forces and they receive less pay, are of lesser status, temporary in nature but
receive the same training. They provide manpower to extend the reach of the
regular police force. The local villages can form Village Defence Committees to
defend themselves but under the leaderships of the regular security forces.

Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police are deployed in urban areas to guard key
facilities and their functions are equal to the police paramilitary units.

6.
In addition, the
central government deploy paramilitary battalions from the Central Reserve
Police Force, which was raised in 1939 for law and order and internal security
purposes. Presently there exists 243 battalions of this force. In addition to
this segment of the Central Armed Police Force raised by the central
government, the Border Security Force, the Central Industrial Security Force,
the Indo-Tibetan Border Police along with the state raised Indian Reserve
Police Force are employed to deal with counter terrorism and counter
insurgency. The Assam Rifles is raised and placed under the operational command
of the Indian Army and conduct counter insurgency operation in the North East
Sector. In 1990, a special counter insurgency force was raised for the dual
purpose of securing the rear area during the conventional operations and
engaging in stability operations. This force was the Rashtriya Rifles which was
authorised a strength of 60 battalions during inception. If all such options
are exhausted and the coercive force has to be increased, then the Indian Army
is deployed by the central government to bring peace and stability.

7.
In case of Left
Wing Extremism, the state deploy their assets and additional forces are
requisitioned from the central government such as CRPF. An additional force
under CRPF, Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) has been raised for
undertaking guerrilla/jungle warfare involved operations. The success of these
forces in the areas infected by LWE are dependant heavily on HUMINT and even
the civilian armed groups such as Sendra in Jharkhand and Salwa Judum in
Chhattisgarh participate in the operations against the Maoist leaders of the
movement. In addition to direct support of additional troops for operations,
the central government also undertake schemes for Modernisation of State Police
Forces, setting up of Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorism school and
re-imbursement of Security Related Expenditure from the central budget3. The employment of
paramilitary forces has been the primary armed response of the governments in
dealing with Terrorism/ Insurgency in case of Jammu and Kashmir, the North East
and LWE. Intelligence also plays a major role in conduct of operations in these
spheres, however this aspect achieves paramount importance whilst dealing with
Terrorism in the Hinterland.

8.
The Intelligence Mechanism. There are a
multitude of intelligence agencies operating within the nation with adequate
resources to be a potent force. The primary agency dealing with terrorism is
National Intelligence Agency (NIA) borne out of the NIA act of 2008. It is the
central counter terrorism law enforcement agency in the nation. It is given the
authority, at the national level, to investigate and prosecute offences
affecting the sovereignty, security and the integrity of the nation and a host
of other mandates. The officers of NIA have all the powers, privileges and
liabilities throughout the nation which the state police officers have in
connection with the investigation of any offence. It is mandatory for the state
governments to extend all assistance and co-operation to the Agency for
investigation of the offences. Another
critical agency in fighting terror is Research and Analysis Wing formed in September
1968. One of the primary functions include the collection of external
intelligence for counter- terrorism. In addition to these organisations, a
plethora of other intelligence agencies, central and state based, operate to
build on the information network against the elements who undertake terror
activities throughout the nation.

1 Annual Report 2016-17 Government of India Ministry
of Home Affairs (accessed online at http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/EnglAnnualREport2016-17_17042017.pdf
on 01 Oct 17).

2 Jammu and Kashmir State Response to Insurgency – the
Case of Jammu, Thomas A Marks (Accessed online at https://satp.org/satporgtp/publication/faultlines/volume16/article
1.htm on 14 Oct 17).